Utah Asks the US Supreme Court to Decide Historic Public Lands Case
The United States currently owns nearly 70 percent of the land in the State of Utah. The relative percentage of federal lands in Eastern states is trivial by comparison where the federal government owns less than 1 percent of the land in Connecticut, New York, and Rhode Island, and less than 3 percent of the land in Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
About half of the federal land in Utah has been designated as National Parks, National Forests, National Conservation Areas, and the like, or is being used in service of one of the federal government’s enumerated powers—e.g., as a federal military installation, courthouse, office building, or the like. But the rest of the federal land in Utah—about 34% of the State’s territory—is “unappropriated” land that the United States is simply holding, without formally reserving it for any designated purpose.
As a result of the federal government’s expansive landholdings in Utah, Utah is deprived of a significant measure of sovereignty compared to its sister States. It cannot tax, exercise eminent domain over, or exercise legislative authority over the purposes for which more than two-thirds of the land within its borders may be used.
This intrusion on Utah’s sovereignty is no accident. The United States has a formal policy (enshrined in the Federal Land Policy and Management Act or “FLPMA”) of indefinitely retaining these lands, regardless of whether it needs them for any governmental purpose or how doing so impacts the interests of Utah and its citizens.
The state of Utah has filed a landmark public lands lawsuit asking the U.S. Supreme Court to address whether the federal government can indefinitely retain unappropriated lands within a state, over the objection of that state.
Utah Asserts Its Case
About 34% of the State’s territory is “unappropriated” land that the United States is simply holding, without formally reserving it for any designated purpose.
This case represents a direct legal dispute between the state of Utah and the federal government, falling under the original jurisdiction of the U.S. Supreme Court. Utah is urging the Supreme Court to exercise this jurisdiction and hear the case. To present our arguments at the highest level, Utah has enlisted Paul Clement and Erin Murphy, two of the most distinguished Supreme Court advocates of our time. Mr. Clement, a former U.S. Solicitor General, has argued over 100 cases before the Supreme Court, including Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Hobby Lobby.
The expertise of Clement and Murphy enhances the exceptional skill and legal acumen of the dedicated attorneys and legal professionals at the Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office (PLPCO) and the Utah Attorney General’s Office. Utah’s former Solicitor General, Melissa Holyoke, along with current Solicitor General, Stan Purser, have been instrumental in making this case a top priority for the Attorney General’s Office.
For more information, view the entire legal filing here.
